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Rumoured B&W _ONLY_ digital M


andybarton

Would you buy a B&W only digital M?  

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  1. 1. Would you buy a B&W only digital M?



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A B&W only camera will not take better B&W photos than post processing RGB…

if you know how. The B&W file severely limits what you have to work with.

This is the screwiest idea I’ve heard of yet. Go Leica.

 

Well, I do not believe this to be true. One of the FEW things that the M8 does better than the M9 is B&W (ok, IR too). A B&W dedicated sensor, can present much more information that is simply filtered out on a Color sensor. You can't working with it in post if it's not there to begin with. Do remember that an unfiltered sensor is B&W, it's only after filtering do we have color. Which would imply, up to 3 times the resolution of a color sensor, without an improvement in technology.

 

And besides, if done correctly, it should behave just as B&W film, which means your various color filters should behave the same way... But it has to be done right... not half way...

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No and not even if it cost £1000 less. There is no way that I would give up being able to convert to B&W afterwards, say in silverefex pro, and being able to manipulate the colour sliders to create red, yellow, green etc B&W filters.

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I never thought I'd say it, but for the first time in ten years I think I'd rather buy $9000 worth of film and convert my M2 into a 'B&W only' camera.

 

I'm guessing that if it did happen it would be aimed squarely at high end geeks and collectors, the same ones who buy Titanium or white painted limited editions. It could be called the 'Magnum' edition, or the 'HCB', or the 'I don't know how Photoshop works' edition.

 

Steve

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Echoing what others have said here; I look at the insane prices that Chinese and other Asian collectors are paying for art, luxury goods, French wines etc. And the fact that in the East you can find any piece of Leica equipment that your heart desires, as long as you're prepared to pay crazy money for it, this despite a shortage of Leica equipment everywhere else in the world. Who do you think Leica's aiming this at?

 

I somehow feel that in this instance they couldn't give a damn about what we think. We've got our M9s & M9Ps to play with, so it's time for Leica to get well and truly on the bandwagon and milk the "collectors" market for as long as they can. Nothing new here we've seen the Hermes Leicas etc. it's just that this market has grown exponentially in recent years.......

 

That's of course assuming that there is a B+W camera coming out in May.

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Echoing what others have said here; I look at the insane prices that Chinese and other Asian collectors are paying for art, luxury goods, French wines etc. And the fact that in the East you can find any piece of Leica equipment that your heart desires, as long as you're prepared to pay crazy money for it, this despite a shortage of Leica equipment everywhere else in the world. Who do you think Leica's aiming this at?

To put it in perspective, Leica plans to open 5 stores in the US and Hong Kong already has 3.

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To put it in perspective, Leica plans to open 5 stores in the US and Hong Kong already has 3.

 

Yes, HK has 3 stores that combined are smaller than Leica Mayfair. No inventory, no gallery, no akademie, no studio...no point.

 

Don't even get me started about the Leica Store in Shanghai...dreadful.

 

Leica should take a page from their own book and establish a proper Chinese flagship store.

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swamiji,

Sorry buddy… I’ve done a lot of work with this subject for large printing…

you are wrong, that’s all.

 

So you have worked with the PhaseOne B&W Back?

 

What does the sensor design have to do with Printing?

 

Just saying someone is wrong does not make them so...

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Echoing what others have said here; I look at the insane prices that Chinese and other Asian collectors are paying for art, luxury goods, French wines etc. And the fact that in the East you can find any piece of Leica equipment that your heart desires, as long as you're prepared to pay crazy money for it, this despite a shortage of Leica equipment everywhere else in the world. Who do you think Leica's aiming this at?

Assuming it isn’t just a rumour, Leica could be aiming at those photographers who are really serious about black and white photography. Not just as an afterthought (“Lets see how this would look if converted to black and white …”) but as a deliberately chosen medium. Couldn’t there be at least some photographers who would go for the optimum black and white picture, even when that implied the loss of a colour option (this kind of rumour has been making the rounds since 2006 and I’ve always believed there would be)? Of course the price tag would have to stay clear of the ‘crazy money’ bracket then.

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A B&W only sensor is something that Ricoh might explore as an option with their GXR camera - especially if they offered a Leica M B&W module. And if they did so it could be a very cost effective option for monochrome enthusiasts.

 

dunk

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A B&W only sensor is something that Ricoh might explore as an option with their GXR camera - especially if they offered a Leica M B&W module. And if they did so it could be a very cost effective option for monochrome enthusiasts.

 

dunk

This would be indeed a smart idea... personally, I'd never buy a BW only camera (and even more for the probable price of a Leica like that) ... but the modular concept of the Ricoh could allow an interesting proposal.

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